Chopper and shredder

ABSTRACT

A rotor carries a plurality of shredding cutters and a plurality of chopping blades. The rotor has a radial disc at one end and is supported in a hopper with the disc closely adjacent a side wall of the hopper. The side wall has an auxiliary feed opening through which twigs and trimmings to be chopped into short lengths preparatory to shredding can be fed. A chopping block is mounted on the side wall within the hopper adjacent the passage. The chopping blades are mounted on the disc and extend radially outwardly therefrom with their cutting edges disposed for passing successively in cutting relation to the cutting edge of the block. The chopping blades are mounted in grooves, respectively, in the disc. Each groove is open at the outboard face and periphery of the disc. The grooves and chopping blades are so shaped that the inboard face of each rotary chopping blade is juxtaposed against the bottom wall of its associated groove and the entire peripheral edge of the porion of each blade which is in alignment endwise of the rotor with the disc is engaged and buttressed by the side walls and end wall of the associated groove. Each rotary chopping blade is secured in its associated groove by independently operable bolt and nut sets so that each blade can be adjusted bodily endwise of the rotor so as to adjust its cutting edge to proper relation to the cutting edge of the block and backed up in the adjusted position by inserting shims of selected thickness and lengths between each blade and the bottom wall of its associated groove. The blade is secured fixedly in the groove by tightening the bolt and nut sets. The disc is a composite disc comprising an inboard sheet metal disc and a coaxial outboard sheet metal disc, these discs being bonded together in face to face juxtaposition. The grooves are provided by cut-outs punched entirely through the outboard disc from one face to the other and from its periphery partway across its width preparatory to bonding the discs in the coaxial relation.

United States Patent [191 Ober [451 Apr. 23, 1974 CHOPPER AND SHREDDER [76] Inventor: Howard C. Ober, 31070 Shaker Blvd., Cleveland, Ohio 44124 [22] Filed: Aug. 14, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 280,089

[52] US. Cl 241/188 R, 241/191, 241/2921 [51] Int. Cl. B026 18/18 [58] Field of Search 241/86, 87.1, 88, 189 R,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,153,435 10/1964 Ober 241/74 2,235,919 3/1941 Dion 241/191 X 564,747 7/1896 Gutenkunst 24l/292.l

2,486,421 11/1949 Kessler 241/191 X 3,380,502 4/1968 Gronberg 241/191 X 1,793,476 2/1931 Gehl 241/189 X 1,123,494 l/l9l5 Craig 241/298 2,440,051 4/1948 Lind et al. 241/191 X Primary ExaminerAl Lawrence Smith Assistant Examiner-K. J. Ramsey Attorney, Agent, or Firm-John Harrow Leonard [5 7] ABSTRACT A rotor carries a plurality of shredding cutters and a plurality of chopping blades. The rotor has a radial disc at one end and is supported in a hopper with the disc closely adjacent a side wall of the hopper. The side wall has an auxiliary feed opening through which twigs and trimmings to be chopped into short lengths preparatory to shredding can be fed. A chopping block is mounted on the side wall within the hopper adjacent the passage. The chopping blades are mounted on the disc and extend radially outwardly therefrom with their cutting edges disposed for passing successively in cutting relation to the cutting edge of the block. The chopping blades are mounted in grooves, respectively, in the disc. Each groove is open at the outboard face and periphery of the disc. The grooves and chopping blades are so shaped that the inboard face of each rotary chopping blade is juxtaposed against the bottom wall of its associated groove and the entire peripheral edge of the porion of each blade which is in alignment endwise of the rotor with the disc is engaged and buttressed by the side walls and end wall of the associated groove. Each rotary chopping blade is secured in its associated groove by independently operable bolt and nut sets so that each blade can be adjusted bodily endwise of the rotor so as to adjust its cutting edge to proper relation to the cutting edge of the block and backed up in the adjusted position by inserting shims of selected thickness and lengths between each blade and the bottom wall of its associated groove. The blade is secured fixedly in the groove by tightening the bolt and nut sets. The disc is a composite disc comprising an inboard sheet metal disc and a coaxial outboard sheet metal disc, these discs being bonded together in face to face juxtaposition. The grooves are provided by cut-outs punched entirely through the outboard disc from one face to the other and from its periphery partway across its width preparatory to bonding the discs in the coaxial relation.

3 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures 54 2| 43 47 44 38 .I' 33 l 54 l I 1 5| 1 47 at i PATENTEU APR 23 I914 SHEET 1 OF 3 FIG.

FIG. 2.

SHEET 2 OF 3 PATENTED APR 2 3 I974 FATENTED APR 2 3 I974 SHEET 3 BF 3 FIG. 5.

CHOPPER AND SHREDDER BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 1. Field of Invention The invention relates to a chopper and shredder employing a single rotor with shredding blades thereon supplemented by chopping blades at one end thereof.

2. Description of Prior Art This invention is an improvement on the shredder and chopper which is disclosed in my US. Pat. No. 3,l53,435, issued Oct. 20, 1964, and in my copending application, Ser. No. 171,638, filed Aug. 13, 1971, and entitled Shredder and Chopper, now abandoned.

The patent and application each discloses a rotary shredder and chopper which broadly is the same as that herein described, the differences residing primarily in the rotor structure and the manner of adjustably mounting the rotary chopping blades thereon for greater rigidity and more precise and uniform clearance between the cutting edges of the chopping blades I and the cutting edge of the chopping block.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A shredder and chopper employing a rotor with shredding cutters and supplementary chopping blades mounted on the rotor and adjustable bodily endwise of the rotor and for rocking or tilting toward and away from the end of the rotor into positions in which the cutting edge of each rotary cutting blade has precise operating clearance and parallelism with the cutting edge of the stationary chopping blade.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Various objects and advantages of the shredder and chopper will become apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the drawing in which FIG. 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of a chopper and shredder embodying the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the structure illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical longitudinal sectional view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 1 and is taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical cross sectional view taken on the line 4-4 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged end elevation of the rotor, as viewed from the line 5-5 in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary cross sectional view of a portion of the rotor, illustrating the shim adjustment of the chopping blades, and is taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary cross sectional view, similar to FIG. 6, but showing a rotary chopping blade adjusted for proper clearance and parallelism relative to the stationary chopping block after the block has been moved permanently out of its normal position by distortion of the hopper wall.

Referring to the drawings, the combined chopper and shredder comprises a frame 1 supported at the front end by suitable wheels 2 and at the rear by wheels 3, and steerable by handle bars 4. A conventional gasoline engine 5 is mounted on the frame and has a driving pulley 6 which is drivingly connected to the rotor of the chopper and shredder by a belt'7 through a manually shiftable clutch 8.

The shredding unit comprises a hopper 10 which has a main feed opening at the top, on which is a filling 5 spout 11 to facilitate feeding of loose material to be shredded through the main feed opening.

The hopper has side walls 12 and 13 which support suitable bearings 14 and 15 in which a shaft 16 of the rotor is rotatably mounted. A pulley 17 is mounted on the shaft 16 and is connected by the belt 7 to the pulley 6. The shaft 16 is generally horizontally arranged, extends transversely of the hopper 10, and is driven in a clockwise direction in FIG. 2. A rotary cutter 19 is mounted on the shaft 16 for rotation therewith.

The rotary cutter 19 comprises a sleeve 20 which fits on the shaft 16 and carries a plurality of radial discs 21 arranged in axially spaced relation in a row extending endwise of the sleeve 20. The sleeve 20 is fastened to the shaft 16 for rotation therewith by any conventional means, such as a set screw (not shown.) The rotor has a plurality of hammer cutters 22. Each cutter 22 has identical holes 23 near its opposite ends, respectively, to receive an associated cutter supporting rod 24, selectively, for mounting the cutter thereon for free rocking about the axis of the rod.

A plurality of cutters 22 are mounted in a row on each rod 24. The rods 24 are circumferentially spaced from each other about the axis of the sleeve 20. The cutters 22 on each rod are spaced longitudinally of their associated rod 24 from each other.

The rods 24 extend through suitable aligned openings 25 in the discs 21 so that they can be inserted and withdrawn readily axially for changing cutters and are secured in place endwise by suitable cotter pins near their ends.

The hopper 10 has a peripheral wall portion or screen in the form of a perforated plate which permits shredded material to discharge from the lower rear of the hopper 10. At its lower forward portion the hop per 10 has a discharge opening which is bridged by a grill 31 composed of individual cutter bars 32.

As described in the above patent, the side wall 13 of the hopper 10 has an auxiliary or supplemental feed opening 35 with a feed chute 36 leading thereto. Rigidly mounted on the inner face of the side wall adjacent the opening 35 is a supplemental chopping block 37. Mounted in fixed positions on the end disc 21 of the rotor, adjacent to this side wall of the hopper, are radial chopping blades 38. These radial blades are arranged so that their cutting edges pass the cutting edge of the block 37 in parallelism therewith and with uniform operating clearance, so as to cut or shear off, progressively, lengths of twigs and sticks, brush, and like material fed manually endwise through the supplemental opening 35. This material, when fed in this manner, can be fed at a rate such that it will be cut into short lengths which fall into the hopper and are further shredded by the cutters 22 and cutter bars 32.

The structure thus far described corresponds in operating characteristics to that of the above identified patent and application. However, it has been found that, in operation of these prior structures, frequently the operator will overload the chopper or the material being fed through the supplemental opening 35 will include spikes, wire, stones, oversize limbs, and the like, with the result that material jams between the stationary chopping block and one of the chopping blades.

This resultant stress can be so severe as to bend permanently even the head metal side wall 13 of the hopper so that the stationary chopping block 37 is skewed out of its normal position and is no longer parallel to the plane of the cutting edges of the rotary blades. This permanent skewed position can result in an increase, in whole or part, in the clearance between the cutting edges of the chopping blades and the cutting edge of the stationary chopping block, or in improper chopping relation, to an extent such that efficient chopping is no longer possible and severe vibrations are imposed on the equipment. Likewise, such overloading or unduly heavy material can bend or distort the flange 21 which carries the chopping blades 38.

In prior structures this generally requires removing of the rotor and straightening of its end wall and the wall of the hopper, and reinstalling the rotor to determine whether edges of the chopping blades and the edge of the block are in proper relation with proper and uniform operating clearance. This may require a number of time consuming removals and reinstallations.

In accordance with the present invention, the chopping blades are mounted in a manner such that, with the rotor remaining in situ, they can be adjusted for the .proper clearance and alignment of their cutting edges relative to the cutting edge of the stationary chopping block, despite the fact that the block is skewed or disposed out of its original coplanar relation to the path of the chopping blade edges. This servicing can be effected without removing or disturbing the rotor or any other parts of the equipment.

For this purpose, each chopping blade 38 is adjustably mounted on the end disc 21 so that it can be moved bodily endwise of the rotor parallel to its normal position, and can be rocked about its longitudinal axis,

and can be tilted endwise of the rotor so as to dispose its cutting edge in proper relation to the cutting edge of the block. Generally the cutting edges of the blades 38 lie in a common plane normal to the axis of the rotor.

As best illustrated in FIGS. through 7, the disc 21 is a composite disc made of an inboard sheet metal disc 40 and an outboard sheet metal disc 41. The discs 40 and 41 are juxtaposed in face to face and coaxial relation, and are spot welded together, as indicated at 42, at distributed locations over their faces and about their peripheries so as to provide, in effect, a unitary rigid disc. The outboard disc 41, preparatory to welding the discs together, is provided with cut-outs 43 which extend generally chordally of the disc from the periphery partway of the disc width and which extend entirely through the disc endwise of the axis of the disc. When the discs are juxtaposed, the cut-outs, together with the outboard face of the inboard disc 41, provide operativing grooves, indicated generally at 44, which are open at their outer ends at the periphery of the discs, as indicated at 45, and which are open at the outboard side or face of the outboard disc 41. Portions of the outboard face of the inboard disc 40 aligned with the cutouts 43 provide the bottom walls of the grooves 44. Each groove 44 has a leading side wall 46 and a trailing side wall 47 and-an end wall 48, these walls being the cut-out defining edges of the outboard disc 41.

Each cutting blade 38 is of such shape that when its inboard face is juxtaposed against the bottom wall of its associated groove 44, formed'by the outboard face of the disc 40, its peripheral edges, within the extent of the groove 44, fit snugly the side walls 46 and 47 and end wall 48 of the groove 44. Thus each blade 38 is constrained from any movement circumferentially of the unitary disc 21.

The bottom wall of each groove 44 is provided with suitable holes 50 and 51, which are spaced apart from each other in a direction endwise of the groove, or chordally of the disc 21. The blades 38 have corresponding holes 52 and 53 coaxial with the holes 50 and 51, respectively. Suitable carriage bolt and nut sets, each comprising a bolt 54 and nut 55 are provided. Each bolt 54 extends through an associated pair of the aligned holes with a snug fit, and in coaction with the nuts 55, tightly draw the blades 38 into firm engagement with the outboard face of the inboard disc 40. Thereby, the blades 38 are held firmly in mounted positions. The nuts preferably are of the self locking type, so as to prevent accidental loosening and displacement, or may be supplemented with lock washers.

The grooves 44 are spaced circumferentially of the disc, each midway between two adjacent rods 24, so as to develop the strength of the disc 21 to the maximum and distribute stresses, and also to assure, contrary to the structures illustrated in the above patent and application, that the chopping blades 38 are mounted completely independently of the shredder blades.

Generally, the structure is built with a degree of accuracy such that withthe blades 38 fully seated in the grooves 44, the outboard faces of the blades 38 pass, with slight operating clearance, the cutting edge of the block 37, and lie in a common plane which is normal to the axis of rotation of the rotor and lies closely alongside the inboard face of the block 37 in parallelism with its cutting edge, so as to pass the cutting edge with a slight operating-cutting clearance. If, due to adverse effects of accumulated high or low limits of manufacturing tolerances, and the like, the chopping blades 38 do not have this relation, they can be disposed readily in the relation desired by loosening the bolts and moving the blades bodily parallel to their original positions outwardly endwise of the axis of the rotor, and

'shimmed by suitable shims 56, to the proper position,

and then secured in place by the bolts.

It sometimes happens that due to overloading or jamming, the stress imposed on the blade 38 tends to bend the disc 21, or the side wall 13 of the hopper, in which case the cutting edge of the stationary chopping block 37 is skewed and bias to the plane of the outboard faces of the blades 38. This skewing may be circumferentially or radially of the rotor axis or both.

Assuming that the side wall 13 is bent, for example so that the cutting edge of the block 37 slopes inwardly endwise of the rotor from its outer edge to its inner edge, as illustrated in FIG. 7, this would necessitate that the blades 38 be correspondingly sloped inwardly endwise of the rotor from the outer ends toward the axis of rotation. In such case, the bolts would be removed and proper shims placed between each blade 38 and the bottom wall of its groove at the outer portion of the disc 21, thus disposing the blade 38 in the proper slanted position so that its cutting edge is parallel to the cutting edge of the block 37. This can be done readily because of utilizing the two bolts 54 spaced radially from each other so that each portion of the blade 38 engaged by a bolt can be drawn tightly and secured into its proper position, the blade meanwhile being buttressed at its leading and trailing edges and radially innermost edge of the side walls of its associated grooves.

To service the equipment at the worksite, the jamming material is removed, the hopper wall 13 is pried or hammered to dispose the block 37 near to its original position, and the flange 21 is correspondingly bent back approximately to its original condition.

After the wall 13 and flange 21 are restored approximately to their original relationships, the final precise adjustment is made by shimming and clamping the blades 38, while the rotor remains in situ, by shims 57 alone or in addition to the shims 56.

It is obvious from the foregoing description that should the wall 13 of the hopper become bent so that the cutting edge of the block 37 slopes endwise of the rotor inwardly from its inner to its outer end, then the extra shims would be added at the innermost end of the groove 44, so as to provide the proper tilt or slant of the blades 38 endwise of the rotor.

The nut 55 of the radially outermost one of the bolts 54 is readily accessible through the hopper inlet by a wrench for removal. A suitable hole 58 is provided in the side wall 13 in a position radially of .the axis of the rotor such that the radially innermost nut 55 is alignable with the hole 58 and therefore is accessible by a wrench for removal for servicing the blades with the rotor in situ.

With this arrangement most of the maladjustments of the chopping blades due to accumulative manufacturing tolerances, and misalignments caused by overloads and the like, can be overcome readily in the field within a few minutes so that the chopping and shredding operations can be continued until such time as it is convenient to completely service the equipment. Except in cases of extremely severe impacts, usually the field adjustment of the structure while assembled is adequate so that overall servicing is not required.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a rotary chopper:

a housing;

a rotor in the housing;

power means for driving the rotor;

said housing having a side wall at one end of the rotor;

said side wall having feed opening therein;

a stationary abutment carried in fixed position on the side wall adjacent said feed opening and against which material being fed into the housing is engaged during chopping;

a chopping blade on said one end of the rotor and positioned so that its cutting edge passes closely alongside the inboard side of the abutment with close operating clearance, upon rotation of the rotor, so as to cut off material progressively as it is fed into the housing through said feed opening;

said rotor having an end wall at one end;

stationary abutment means for the rotary chopping blade on the rotor, said abutment means on the rotor comprising a groove in said end wall, which groove is open at one end through the periphery of said end wall and is open at one side through the outboard face of said end wall;

complementary abutment means on the rotary chopping blade in detachable engagement with the abutment means on the rotor, and constraining the rotary blade to a fixed relation to the rotor circumferentially thereof;

adjustment means for the rotary chopping blade and detachably interconnecting the rotary chopping blade and rotor and securing the blade in fixed adjusted positions in directions, endwise of the rotor,

toward and away from said stationary abutment and in fixed positions radially of the rotor, while the abutment means remain in engagement with each other;

characterized in that;

said end wall comprises an inboard sheet metal disc and an outboard sheet metal disc, said discs being fixedly secured together in juxtaposed face to face relation, and coaxial relation;

said outboard disc has a cut-out extending entirely therethrough from its outboard face to its inboard face, said cut-out being open at its outer end through the periphery of the outboard disc and extending partway only across the outboard disc in directions transversely of the circumference thereof;

said cut-out being closed at the juxtaposed faces of the discs by the outboard face of the inboard disc, and thereby providing a groove in the composite disc which groove is open at the periphery and outboard face of the composite disc; and

the edges of said cut-out in the outboard disc are the abutment means on the rotor for the blade.

2. The structure according to claim 1 wherein the groove extends chordally of, and in offset relation to, the axis of rotation of the disc.

3. The structure according to claim 1 wherein the detachable adjustment means for the rotary chopping blade includes at least two bolts extending through the blade and the bottom wall of the groove, and spaced from each other different distances from the axis of the rotor, and clamping the blade firmly against said in board disc. 

1. In a rotary chopper: a housing; a rotor in the housing; power means for driving the rotor; said housing having a side wall at one end of the rotor; said side wall having feed opening therein; a stationary abutment carried in fixed position on the side wall adjacent said feed opening and against which material being fed into the housing is engaged during chopping; a chopping blade on said one end of the rotor and positioned so that its cutting edge passes closely alongside the inboard side of the abutment with close operating clearance, upon rotation of the rotor, so as to cut off material progressively as it is fed into the housing through said feed opening; said rotor having an end wall at one end; stationary abutment means for the rotary chopping blade on the rotor, said abutment means on the rotor comprising a groove in said end wall, which groove is open at one end through the periphery of said end wall and is open at one side through the outboard face of said end wall; complementary abutment means on the rotary chopping blade in detachable engagement with the abutment means on the rotor, and constraining the rotary blade to a fixed relation to the rotor circumferentially thereof; adjustment means for the rotary chopping blade and detachably interconnecting the rotary chopping blade and rotor and securing the blade in fixed adjusted positions in directions, endwise of the rotor, toward and away from said stationary abutment and in fixed positions radially of the rotor, while the abutment means remain in engagement with each other; characterized in that: said end wall comprises an inboard sheet metal disc and an outboard sheet metal disc, said discs being fixedly secured together in juxtaposed face to face relation, and coaxial relaTion; said outboard disc has a cut-out extending entirely therethrough from its outboard face to its inboard face, said cut-out being open at its outer end through the periphery of the outboard disc and extending partway only across the outboard disc in directions transversely of the circumference thereof; said cut-out being closed at the juxtaposed faces of the discs by the outboard face of the inboard disc, and thereby providing a groove in the composite disc which groove is open at the periphery and outboard face of the composite disc; and the edges of said cut-out in the outboard disc are the abutment means on the rotor for the blade.
 2. The structure according to claim 1 wherein the groove extends chordally of, and in offset relation to, the axis of rotation of the disc.
 3. The structure according to claim 1 wherein the detachable adjustment means for the rotary chopping blade includes at least two bolts extending through the blade and the bottom wall of the groove, and spaced from each other different distances from the axis of the rotor, and clamping the blade firmly against said inboard disc. 